Friday, January 05, 2007

My Name is Mud

THE RUN ITSELFAfter taking The Cheat to the vet this afternoon, I headed out once again into the woods behind my house for a trail run. The extensive ice and snow coated sections from yesterday are now 100% gone, leaving thickets of mud in their place. This warm winter stuff is just downright bizarre, not to mention scary.

I was able to move at a good lick for a trail run. No wildlife sightings this time. That poor, all-white snowshoe hare I saw yesterday will probably have a tough time from hiding from the coyotes without any camouflage though.

MUSINGS ON WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPENThis week has been pretty slack. Sure, I have what might be considered good excuses for not training as much, but they are just that: excuses. The fact that the week before that was pretty slack as well doesn't help much to calm my thinking.

I'm not going to beat myself up over it too much, as it won't do much good. But, the bottom line is there are only seven weeks left until my marathon. That's not a lot of time. During the past few months, I've built up some great mileage, doing more than I've ever done. That's good. But a lot still has to happen, mainly in getting in many more runs at marathon pace. I consider this to be absolutely crucial if I'm going to qualify for Boston.

Looking back, I knew the past two weeks were going to be crazy with the holidays and getting a new pet. Looking ahead, sure, life can throw curveballs, but there aren't any foreseeable obstacles that should greatly interfere with my training. It's time to focus during these final four weeks before the taper and get things done, pure and simple.